HOW SHOULD I CHARGE FALL LEAF REMOVAL???

[NadRash]

I live in Boston and have 12 clients... All of whom want fall leaf removal and I need advice on how much to charge...a fair price so I can make money but don't want to overcharge and lose my customers trust. I have a 4.5 Hp Craftsman lawn vacuum shredder and and a new Hasqvana 150BT backpack leaf blower...please help!!!

 

[BHLC]

How big are the yards? How long do you think each will take? Where do you have to put the leaves once they're cleaned up?

 

[TaskForceLawnCare]

One of the more common ( and not very good ) ways of charging for leaf removal services is to take mowing cost multiplied by two. That's a guess. Don't guess. Charge for it like you charge for any other related service, by calculating your labor hours needed to perform the service. The amount of time and effort needed to collect and remove leaves varies from property to property and can literally change from day to day.

 

[Mad Mackie]

If you have to bag and haul the leaves away, you may spend more time doing this than the actual cleanup. Just bagging the leaves is time consuming.
A machine that finely chops up the leaves will allow you to put more in one bag making your system more efficient.
I usually pickup 1,200 to 1,700 bushels in the fall, all of which I dispose of on the customers properties or very close by. The collection systems on my Scag ZT and Ingersoll GT get a lot of use both spring and fall.
Mad Mackie in CT

 

[exotion]

I bid 25 an hr or 350 for a day

 

[TaskForceLawnCare]

I charge my normal labor rate of $140 an hour and from experience i can make an educated bid. Once the bid is set then i wont charge more then my bid/estimate leaving room to come down. Charges to haul the leaves off the property are charged by the bushel basically $2 per bushel. I don't even try to estimate how many bushels it will be i just tell the customers it's $2 per bushel. I realize $140 an hour seems high, but mowers, blowers, collection systems, trucks, insurances and taxes, don't run on pixie dust and dreams. In order to accurately bid you need to understand your cost then ad on about 2.5% for wear Ann's tear.

 

[NadRash]

Ok. What the heck is a bushel..? My pick up truck can hold 2 cubic yards. In terms of cubic yards, how much $$$ should I charge per cubic yard of Oak/Maple Fall Leaf's?
I will be doing my Fall clean-ups alone ... I use my Hasqvana 150BT blower and rake when needed...put leaf's onto tarp... Drag tarp to truck and then use my 4.5Hp Craftsman Yard Vacuum Shredder or my new Toro 6.5Hp Yard Vacuum Shredder w/ hose and shred leaf's before dumping into bed of truck.
Also, it is impossible to remove all the leaf's before the winter by doing a single fall cleanup for any of my clients... I usually have to do each client yard twice...( 1st cleanup -1/2 of leaf's have fallen from tree...2nd cleanup I try to get it done when 90% of leaf's have fallen ...or as long as their isn't snow on the ground.) do you guys charge for each visit or do you charge a flat rate...regardless of the # visits?

 

[LoCo86]

Though ill advised by task force, I use the method of doubling the cost of mowing for leaf mulching and dispersion throughout the yard using gator blades. When asked to actually remove leaves(which is rare) from the property I charge by the amount of leaves collected. How much that you charge is up to you on your expenses and the amount of profit you look to make of the job. I think you're actually fishing for numbers but those numbers are up to you.

 

[BHLC]

Though ill advised by task force, I use the method of doubling the cost of mowing for leaf mulching and dispersion throughout the yard using gator blades. When asked to actually remove leaves(which is rare) from the property I charge by the amount of leaves collected. How much that you charge is up to you on your expenses and the amount of profit you look to make of the job. I think you're actually fishing for numbers but those numbers are up to you.

I don't think he was ill advised! Our leaf removal is similar, starting at our hourly rate plus removal per cubic yard. I don't see how you can simply "mulch" the leaves in. We clean yards that fill out 1 ton dump 4 times, and that's after running it through the debris loader that chops them up as fine as the mowers would! Comes down to your own decision, what's your per hour rate, how long it's gonna take, how far do you have to haul it? Only your can know your price.

 

[LoCo86]

Instead of ill advised I should have said not recommended. And to clarify my mulching the leaves. I use side discharge with gator blades and mow over the property twice. Usually leaving the yard leaf less. Except for the leaves falling as I'm mowing. Your method is great for removing leaves form the property, but in my area residential clients really can't afford the $300-$500 charge they will receive for actually removing leaves from the property. I would love to use the method of loading the leaves into a dump bed it's just not affordable by everyone. Also keep in mind that my clients property's range from a small 1 acre yard to 3 acres. With the time it would take on the larger property's the cost would be too much for my clients to bear. Which is why is use the double cut method with gator blades, cutting the leaves up to pretty much dust.